The Time Has Come

[i][ii]

Monday, April 1, 2019

Then I heard again what sounded like the shout of a vast crowd or the roar of mighty ocean waves or the crash of loud thunder:  “Praise the Lord!  For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns.  Let us be glad and rejoice, and let us give honor to him.  For the time has come for the wedding feast of the Lamb, and his bride has prepared herself.  She has been given the finest of pure white linen to wear.”  For the fine linen represents the good deeds of God’s holy people.  Revelation 19:6-8

I’ve officiated at enough weddings in the past 40 years to know the pecking order of things when that special day of the ceremony arrives.  During one rehearsal a groom kept asking questions of the pastor about where he should stand, and if he should keep his hands folded this way or that.  When the 3-year-old flower girl had a melt-down everyone took a break.  The pastor took the groom aside and told him:  Listen, just stand in that one spot and look at the bride with everyone else…it doesn’t matter how you hold your hands, bud; nobody’s going to be looking at you.  Considering the norm, a groom will wear a $75 rented tux, while the bride’s gown makes the national debt look like an austerity program.  

When Elizabeth and I got married we saved the tux rental too because I had my Army uniform to wear.  One of the groomsmen told me it was appropriate; that uniform with the private’s stripe shouted that I was a guy who knew how to take orders!

The Marriage Supper of the Lamb will be like none other.  According to this end time prediction the bride will be beautifully dressed in the most elegant way, adorned with the sacrificial works of the church in caring for people throughout the ages.  But the groom, the spotless Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, the One Who died for this bride, will be the center of all creation and beyond. 

All that exists will be turned towards the groom on that day.  And that means every believer, every man, woman, and child who has trusted in Christ will be in attendance, and all attention will be on Messiah; no one will have eyes for anyone but Jesus.

The Apostle John, writing down this Revelation vision about that day as Jesus spoke it to him, recorded that the bride had prepared herself.  That preparation is the sum of all the good that has been done by believers in the name of Jesus over the last two millennia.  I believe it also includes those pre-cross saints, such as Abraham, Abel, the prophets, King David, Samson, and everyone who trusted in God’s promise of a Savior.  Every kindness ever done in the name of our Lord is remembered in Heaven (whether or not it is recorded on earth) and will be rewarded on that day.

When I was much younger that day of Jesus’ return, and the marriage supper of the Lamb seemed so much more removed from reality than today.  Perhaps, owing to the naïve nature of the 1950’s sans Internet and lightning-fast news reporting, as well as my own preoccupation with growing up, playing sports, and generally surviving the threat of polio and measles.  My mind just didn’t have time for thinking about all the wonders of the world coming to an end before I’d even had a chance to explore some of it.  

Fast-forward to the dawn of the 3^rd decade of a new millennium, I can’t believe it hasn’t happened yet!  Wars, rumors of wars, earthquakes, floods, famine, atmosphere collapsing…Jesus’ Mt Olivet sermon[iii] warnings of end times approaching read like the gloom and doom of the daily news reports.  Perhaps it’s just my age, or a different stage of preoccupation with Scripture’s forecast, but the question occupying my mind mostly these days is how much longer can it be?

For You Today

It isn’t for any of us to know the exact time, or exactly what it will be like when Jesus Christ returns to set everything right which has been wrong.  But we have the larger picture – it is going to be the best…better than any human imagination can conceive.  The time…when it comes…will be so grand, no believer will ever look back on this life wishing for the good ol’ times; as the poet said, the best is yet to be!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day.

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[i] Title Image:   Pixabay.com

[ii] Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are from The New Living Translation©

[iii] Matthew 24-25

Spectacular

[i][ii]

Friday, March 29, 2019

Because we understand our fearful responsibility to the Lord, we work hard to persuade others.  God knows we are sincere, and I hope you know this, too.  Are we commending ourselves to you again?  No, we are giving you a reason to be proud of us, so you can answer those who brag about having a spectacular ministry rather than having a sincere heart.   If it seems we are crazy, it is to bring glory to God.  And if we are in our right minds, it is for your benefit.  Either way, Christ’s love controls us.  Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life.  He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves.  Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them.  2 Corinthians 5:11-15

As an apostle of Jesus, Paul had seen and done things that would’ve gotten the attention of the talent scout for Barnum and Bailey’s circus.  Those who are interested in the spectacular are always looking for that which is more titillating than the last show.  It’s always about the show, because a mesmerized audience is defenseless to hold onto their rent money!  Sounds a little like politics, eh?

In Paul’s ministry everything was about giving glory to God in the name of Jesus.  To those who were career braggers, simply looking to grab the spotlight, it was about self-promotion.  Motive is always the dividing line between spectacular and sincere.

The meaning of “spectacular” as with “beauty” is in the eye of the beholder.  And there are as many possibilities as there are personality types.  To the introverted among us, spectacular is to be kept at a distance; we just want more quiet.  To the engaged Type-A extrovert, spectacular is like light to a moth.  To the naïve, glitzy    three-ring circuses are a narcotic.  To those who are cynical the reaction is envy, greener than a St. Patty’s Day parade.  In sum, it’s what Forest Gump’s mama used to say:  Spectacular is as spectacular does!

I like this passage, because it lands it’s blows to the inflated ego right where it can accomplish the most good.  There are a lot of religious “shows” that happen in some big circus arenas every Sunday, and even on TV throughout the week.  Some of the circuses travel (they’re billed as “miracle-revivals” that show up on the circuit under spiritually-leaky tents).  If you contrast the glitz, hype, sleight-of-Scripture, and promotional gimmicks against what happens at the average local church, it is no wonder why the market share of Bragging Rights International is emptying the local pews more than ever before.  Pastor Joe (non)super-Christian-average servant of Jesus, finds it hard to compete with that 32-plastic teeth perfect smile promising a Lexus in every driveway, as the TV cameras dance in-and-out, complete with background image support and staging.  

P. T. Barnum, founder of the Barnum & Bailey circus is quoted as having said, there’s a sucker born every minute.  Even a cursory reading of his life story will verify that about summed up the goal, substance, and ethic of his life…getting the cash out of every back pocket he could reach while dangling the spectacular in front of your eyes to distract.  For those who are not easily-distracted from Scripture’s admonition to keep our eyes on Christ[iii], you can’t miss that Barnum operated a franchise designed, approved, and fully-supported by the father of lies[iv]; it’s all spectacular fizz and giggle, and designed to amaze while your entertained brain slips away from giving glory to God. 

Scripture[v] concludes that people who live this way, grabbing the glory for themselves, instead of giving glory to the Father, have their reward…the praise (and pocketbook) of humans.  That reward will be a different kind of spectacular!

For You Today

If you listen to the hype that glorifies the spectacular you won’t hear the still small voice of God.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day.

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[i] Title Image:   Pixabay.com

[ii] Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are from The New Living Translation©

[iii] 1 Corinthians 2:2

[iv] John 8:44

[v] Matthew 6:2, 2 Peter 2:13, Revelation 16:6

Oh, What Joy!

[i][ii]

Thursday, March 28, 2019

Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sin is put out of sight!  Yes, what joy for those whose record the Lord has cleared of guilt, whose lives are lived in complete honesty!  When I refused to confess my sin, my body wasted away, and I groaned all day long.  Day and night your hand of discipline was heavy on me.  My strength evaporated like water in the summer heat.               Interlude

Finally, I confessed all my sins to you and stopped trying to hide my guilt.
I said to myself, “I will confess my rebellion to the Lord.”  And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone.   Interlude

Therefore, let all the godly pray to you while there is still time, that they may not drown in the floodwaters of judgment.  For you are my hiding place; you protect me from trouble.  You surround me with songs of victory.                               Interlude  

The Lord says, “I will guide you along the best pathway for your life.  I will advise you and watch over you.  Do not be like a senseless horse or mule that needs a bit and bridle to keep it under control.”  Many sorrows come to the wicked, but unfailing love surrounds those who trust the Lord.  So rejoice in the Lord and be glad, all you who obey him!  Shout for joy, all you whose hearts are pure!  Psalm 32:1-11

This past Sunday’s sermon was one that got my attention.  I know that sounds odd, in the sense that the preacher ought to know what he’s going to say, and the sermon ought not be something of a surprise to him.  But, frankly, sometimes what comes out of my mouth on Sunday morning can sound (to me) a little surprising.  In the middle of preaching a sermon on stewardship I experienced an overwhelming sense of joy.  And it wasn’t just about filling the bank account. 

I thought it was worth re-visiting for a moment.

The main points of this sermon on the topic of stewardship, or giving, were that we must make decisions about money and its use in these ways:

1.     Whether we’re going to be a control freak, or trust God

2.     If we’re going to live life stingy, or generously.

In the middle of talking about those concepts I was gripped by a sense of security and lifted in a way that can only be described as joy.  For me, it was not a matter of giddy, happy, or superiority…just that sense of well-being that you’re in the middle of the bullseye.  I was experiencing that happy marriage of talking about something that is not a theory, but a lifetime principle that never gets old or shaky in its truth…that giving is Godly.  That’s a joyful level that (if you’ll forgive the pun) money can’t buy!

The first step in the journey is always the hardest, and that is never truer than opening a sermon about money, and how it can control our lives, becoming our master, rather than serve good purposes.  It’s hard because some people don’t want you to talk about giving money away.  And that’s because it’s difficult to give away that for which you worked. 

Believe me, I know that.  As one who has spent most of his adult life serving smaller-membership churches where the finances and preacher salaries were on the meager side, yet still having to feed and clothe three kids and keep the wolves from the door…well, you don’t let the income become the out-go easily.  But, on the plus-side, when you’re married to a person steeped in the joy of giving to others, and, as a pastor you’re in a position to know more about people’s needs than the average bear, well, you see over and over just how God blesses and uses giving hearts.

It becomes great joy!

For You Today

Whether you qualify to buy a whole floor of Trump Tower, or if you’re homeless, there are ways you can access that same joy of giving; it just requires paying a little attention to the opportunities God places in your way.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day.

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[i] Title Image:   Pixabay.com

[ii] Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are from The New Living Translation©

Chasing the Wind & Stubbing Toes

[i][ii]

Wednesday, March 27, 2019

For Jeduthun, the choir director: A psalm of David.

I said to myself, “I will watch what I do and not sin in what I say.  I will hold my tongue when the ungodly are around me.”  But as I stood there in silence—not even speaking of good things—the turmoil within me grew worse.  The more I thought about it, the hotter I got, igniting a fire of words:  “Lord, remind me how brief my time on earth will be.  Remind me that my days are numbered—how fleeting my life is.  You have made my life no longer than the width of my hand.  My entire lifetime is just a moment to you; at best, each of us is but a breath.” Interlude

We are merely moving shadows, and all our busy rushing ends in nothing.  We heap up wealth, not knowing who will spend it.  And so, Lord, where do I put my hope?  My only hope is in you.  Rescue me from my rebellion.  Do not let fools mock me.  I am silent before you; I won’t say a word, for my punishment is from you.  But please stop striking me!  I am exhausted by the blows from your hand.  When you discipline us for our sins, you consume like a moth what is precious to us.  Each of us is but a breath.  Interlude

Hear my prayer, O Lord!  Listen to my cries for help!  Don’t ignore my tears.  For I am your guest—a traveler passing through, as my ancestors were before me.  Leave me alone so I can smile again before I am gone and exist no more.  Psalm 39:1-13

Anyone who has been to a funeral has heard the wise words of Solomon:

For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven.  A time to be born and a time to die.  Ecclesiastes 3:1-2a

Solomon wrote that the meaning and weight of all the activities of humans is vanity or emptiness.  In Warren Wiersbe’s series of books entitled “BE” he tells of a favorite seminary professor who described Solomon’s characterization of the stuff we do, say, and think, and the impact it leaves on the rest of us, as what you have left over after you pop a soap bubble….poof…all gone; quite a picture of 70 years, plus or minus!

Solomon got at least some of his wisdom from his father, King David.  And in the Psalm, which David gave to one of his Temple music directors for use in public worship, David pours out his heart over this brief life and its associated stubbed toe times, when we walk in pain and sorrow. 

The ancients saw everything as coming from God – good stuff, bad stuff, and the arbitrary nature of it all – God seemingly laying hard stuff on our shoulders during good times or bad, whether we know we’ve sinned or have just messed it up without a clue – it’s like a maze, a strange puzzle to be navigated by the unknowing, unsuspecting pilgrim on planet earth, trying not to tick God off.

Now, that’s quite different from today, when most of humanity barely acknowledges God, choosing rather to assume that we’re alone in this universe, and everything that happens is chance, the universe working-out its immutable and harsh changes, no matter who gets in the way.

The dividing line between the ancients and moderns, however, is the cross of Jesus Christ.  As man discovered, and is still discovering, the complexity of human existence, and the beauty and order which God imputed to His creation (because of his own nature of beauty, power, and orderly Sovereign love), man is always faced with the choice between faith in God and relying on self.

In the end, and for the largest share of his life, David chose to trust all, whether vanity or meaning, to God’s care.  For my two-cent’s worth, it was the best choice.

For You Today

Many people scramble through this breath of a life trying to make their mark, accomplish big things, and leave a legacy.  When that soap bubble pops because of a stubbed toe of some kind, that’s usually God whispering.  So, sit still and listen; unless, of course, you’re satisfied with vanity.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day.

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[i] Title Image:   Pixabay.com

[ii] Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are from The New Living Translation©

Fleeing the Wrath to Come

[i][ii]

Tuesday, March 26, 2019

When the Gentiles sin, they will be destroyed, even though they never had God’s written law.  And the Jews, who do have God’s law, will be judged by that law when they fail to obey it.  For merely listening to the law doesn’t make us right with God.  It is obeying the law that makes us right in his sight.  Even Gentiles, who do not have God’s written law, show that they know his law when they instinctively obey it, even without having heard it.  They demonstrate that God’s law is written in their hearts, for their own conscience and thoughts either accuse them or tell them they are doing right.  And this is the message I proclaim—that the day is coming when God, through Christ Jesus, will judge everyone’s secret life.  Romans 2:12-16

The whole idea of the wrath of God and a coming judgment seems to fall into just a few categories these days, with people doing one of the following:

·      Denial…the whole idea of God (if there is such a being) destroying people is relegated to the fruitcakes who wear signboards on a street corner proclaiming the end of the world.  This is unbelief of the first degree.

·      Detachment…putting-off any serious thinking about God’s wrath, as if shutting your eyes while you’re on the train tracks will make that 200-ton locomotive coming your way disappear; a more subtle (and dangerous) form of unbelief.

·      Dilution…changing, ever-so-slightly, but nonetheless changing what Scripture says, in order to blunt the reality and harshness of sin’s ultimate result, death.  This is perhaps a worse compounding sin than the previous two, as the Scripture[iii] declares that adding to, or subtracting anything from God’s Word is worthy of harsher punishment.

The entirety of unbelief is a study for a much greater length than our few minutes this morning, but the whole topic begs the answer to the question of why our culture seems to have dumbed-down the whole issue of consequence for sin.

Rev. Bob Kaylor, a United Methodist Pastor, offers an answer about bringing the church back to the basics of proclaiming Scriptural truth that gets right to the heart of humankind’s problem…sin.  It is a reclaiming of Wesley’s most important question…do you desire to flee from the wrath to come? 

This is about getting back to basics. How might the church become more focused if the first membership question was again, “Do you desire to flee from the wrath to come?” That’s the question that would change the church. It’s the question that changed 18th century England because the Methodist movement began working from the inside out in the lives of its people. The class meetings became something like AA for sinners—a place where struggling people got real and helped one another to grow in grace. It’s time for the church to recapture that humility and spirit. Only then will we make an impact on a broken, hurting world—the world that God is putting right.[iv]

I love that phrase, AA for sinners.  It bespeaks a condition we need to hear over and over in a world currently governed by a watered-down and off-center mantra of “I’m OK – You’re OK”.  Listen, if that were really the case, the world would not be a place of so much pain, tears, and sorrow.  Jesus warned that God’s wrath is indeed the world’s future.  To deny, detach, or dilute any part of that puts us on a par with the enemies of God.  Hear Jesus’ take on this:

But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming to watch him baptize, he denounced them. “You brood of snakes!” he exclaimed. “Who warned you to flee the coming wrath?  Matthew 3:7

Of course, the whole purpose of proclaiming the coming judgment is to sound the alarm that helps people avoid the judgment by trusting Christ.  A sentry posted in a watchtower is not there to watch the enemy sneak-in the compound and slaughter the army; a sentry’s job is to sound the call to arms so the land can be defended.  A sentry who sounds the trumpet of salvation is no enemy!

For You Today

Let’s let Scripture’s call to all of us have the last word on this:

“Today when you hear his voice, don’t harden your hearts as Israel did when they rebelled.”  Hebrews 3:15

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day.

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[i] Title Image:   Pixabay.com

[ii] Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are from The New Living Translation©

[iii] Revelation 22:18-19

[iv] Bob Kaylor, Fleeing From the Wrath to Come 2-9-15